Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Non-Traditional Christmas Decor

Normally I go all out for Christmas. Back in 2004, I think we had a total of 13 trees around the house-big and small. Every room was decorated to the hilt and it took 2 weeks to put up and 2 weeks to take down and clean.

That was the end of that.

Since then, some years were more festive than others, but still the house looked Christmasy and all was well.  This year, however, I didn't do much.  No full-size tree and no santa collection on display.  There's just too much swirling around keeping my attention and Christmas decorating kept being put on the back burner.

But finally I decided to throw a few things together and I couldn't be happier.

I adore the fireplace this year:


Since it doesn't scream, "Christmas", the design can be left up through the end of January.


My favorite antique mannequin is decked out in a festive vintage apron and I placed a cow muzzle on her head to look like a hat.  :)


The awesome cow sign was picked up in Springfield, Missouri this Spring for a whopping $5!  I hung a pair of vintage denim overalls that is sized to fit a doll next to the cow sign.


It's sort of a farmhouse-themed mantle this year with greenery intertwined with snowflake fabric.  A wooden barn stands at one end of the mantle and a house is at the other end with the vintage farm auction sign in the middle.


I stuck an old flower frog in the bottom of the white milk glass bowl to hold the candy cane and then I filled with colored lights.  It's really pretty at night!


The last card my mother sent to me before she had a stroke is always displayed prominently each Christmas since 2005.  Christmas was her favorite holiday and I like to think she decorates the heavens each year for the birthday of Jesus.  :)

Not photographed are two tabletop fiber optic trees.  They may be cheesy, but I enjoy them.

A simple Christmas.  I like it.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Thimble For Your Thoughts


I was going through jars and jars of vintage buttons today to get ready for listing on Etsy when I came across this battered thimble.  It's so tiny I can barely fit it over my finger.

Imagine the beautiful quilts and clothing it helped to sew by aiding a pioneering woman back in the early 1900's in the central Kansas prairie.

Perhaps she created a couple of the hand-sewn quilts I will be listing on eBay this weekend.

It's just a tiny piece of history, but one in which imaginations start to run wild while trying piece together a life lived so long ago.